When the Only Thing You Can Eat Can Kill You, Having More Gene Copies Can Help
January 13, 2025
Washington, D.C. – A new study published today in the journal Nature has found that having more copies of a certain gene can help animals survive on a diet that is toxic to most other animals. The study could have implications for understanding how animals adapt to new and challenging environments.
The researchers studied a group of water beetles that live in ponds that are contaminated with high levels of a toxin called cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria are a type of photosynthetic bacteria that can produce toxins that are harmful to animals and humans. The beetles in the study were able to survive on the toxic diet because they had multiple copies of a gene that codes for a protein that detoxifies the cyanobacteria toxin.
The researchers found that the beetles with more copies of the detoxifying gene were able to survive on higher levels of cyanobacteria toxin than beetles with fewer copies of the gene. They also found that the beetles with more copies of the gene were able to reproduce more successfully on the toxic diet.
The study provides evidence that gene duplication can play an important role in helping animals adapt to new and challenging environments. Gene duplication is a process in which a section of DNA is copied and inserted into another location in the genome. This can lead to the creation of new genes or to the creation of multiple copies of an existing gene.
The researchers say that their study could have implications for understanding how animals adapt to other types of environmental challenges, such as pollution or climate change. They say that their study suggests that gene duplication could be a common mechanism for adaptation to new and challenging environments.
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When the only thing you can eat can kill you, having more gene copies can help
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